H. Rap Brown – “Violence is as American as Apple Pie”.

In 1968 America was turning a corner – it was a country on edge. It was a country experiencing an intense upheaval. It was, for all intents and purposes, a year where America had to choose sides; being part of the problem or being part of the solution. It was no longer a time to sit back and wish for the best. It was a time where protest and confrontations were springing up seemingly everywhere. 1968 was a year of assassinations and escalations – we lost Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King; two voices of peace and hope for a nation coming apart at the seams. It was a year that a nomination for President by the Democratic Party witnessed rioting in the streets and a virtual riot on the convention floor in Chicago by delegates protesting the war and the violence taking place just outside The International Amphitheater.

This broadcast, part of a nightly series for National Educational Television (a precursor to NPR and PBS) featured news for this day, November 21, 1968. News from the Soviet crackdown on Czechoslovakia and the death of Prague Spring – was news about France and its leader General Charles De Gaulle who was turning 78, facing the affects of the Great National Strike that swept over the country in May. News about the continuing protests on college campuses to the War in Vietnam – it was news of the rise of Black Power and the issue of racism on our streets.

And part of all that was an interview with H. Rap Brown, chairman of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and its new alliance with The Black Panthers. Interviewed by Mitchel Krause the exchange borders on contentious, with Brown accusing American Media of a conspiracy in whitewashing the deep and disturbing issue of racism and Police brutality on the streets of inner-cities – extreme poverty and urban blight touching on every corner of this natio. A nation on the verge of decay and chaos. 1968 was no picnic and H.Rap Brown provided a verbal lightning rod to America that evening.

Here is the interview as it was broadcast live on November 21, 1968 during Newsfront on NET.